Asiana Crash: Plane Was 34 Knots Below Target Speed, NTSB Says

by: July 8, 2013

Three seconds before it struck the ground Saturday, the speed of Asiana Airlines Flight 214, a Boeing 777, was 103 knots — the lowest measured by its data recorders, and far below the target speed of 137 knots, says National Transportation Board Chairman Deborah Hersman.

The crash-landing at San Francisco International Airport left two passengers dead and more than 180 people injured, as Mark reported for The Two-Way this morning.

NTSB investigators are interviewing the plane’s four pilots today, Hersman said at a midday news briefing Monday. She confirmed that the pilot who was at the controls as the plane made its approach “was working on getting his rating on the 777,” and was flying with a training captain. Another set of pilots was also on the flight, as is common on long international trips, she said.

More information about the pilots would likely be available at Tuesday’s planned briefing, Hersman says.

As for reports that one of the Chinese teenagers who died in the accident Saturday might have been hit by an emergency response vehicle on the tarmac, Hersman says, “We are still looking at this issue…. The coroner has not yet determined the cause of death.”

An initial review of video from the scene “wasn’t conclusive,” she says.

Here are more details she discussed Monday:

The crew had flown in on a 17-mile straight approach, heading to San Francisco from the air over Sacramento.